Electronic devices with directional haptic output

ABSTRACT

A system may have one or more electronic devices that include user input sensors such as force sensors, touch sensors, motion sensors, and other input devices. To provide a user with output, devices may have visual output components such as displays, audio output components, and haptic output components. Haptic output components may be used to apply an apparent force in a given direction relative to a device housing surface such as a sidewall surface or other device surface. Control circuitry in a device may direct a haptic output component to produce the apparent force in a direction perpendicular to the housing surface or tangential to the housing surface. The apparent applied force may be provided as feedback while the control circuitry is directing a display in the device or in an external device to provide a user with visual content based on the user input.

This application claims the benefit of provisional patent applicationSer. No. 62/535,166, filed Jul. 20, 2017, which is hereby incorporatedby reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD

This relates generally to electronic equipment, and, more particularly,to electronic equipment that supplies haptic output.

BACKGROUND

Devices such as wearable devices sometimes incorporate haptic outputcomponents. Haptic output components may supply a user with hapticoutput while the user is interacting with software such as gamingsoftware.

It can be challenging to design a haptic output device. If care is nottaken, haptic output may too weak or may not provide a desired sensationfor a user, haptic output may not be applied to an appropriate locationon the body of a user, or a haptic output device may be overly bulky ordifficult to use.

SUMMARY

A system may have one or more electronic devices for gathering input andproviding output to a user. In configurations with multiple devices, thedevices may communicate wirelessly. One device may be used as acontroller for another device. In a single-device system, user input andoutput may be handled by the same device.

To gather user input, devices may include user input sensors such asforce sensors, touch sensors, motion sensors, and other input devices.The user input that is gathered may be used to manipulate objects in avirtual world or to interact with other content being provided to auser.

To provide a user with output, devices may have visual output devices,audio output components, and haptic output components. For example, ahead-mounted device may have a display for presenting virtual reality ormixed reality content to a user.

Haptic output components may be used to apply an apparent force in agiven direction relative to a device housing surface such as a housingsidewall surface or other device surface. Control circuitry in a devicemay direct a haptic output component to produce the apparent appliedforce perpendicular to the surface or tangential to the housing surface.The apparent applied force may be provided as feedback while the controlcircuitry is directing a display in the device or in an external deviceto provide a user with visual content based on the user input. Byadjusting the direction of the apparent applied force, a user may beprovided with sensations such as increased or decreased weight,increased or decreased lateral force, friction (resistance to fingermovement in a particular direction), slippage (finger movementassistance), rendered boundary effects, and/or other directional hapticeffects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view of the illustrative electronicdevice of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative haptic outputcomponent with a central deflecting portion in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative deflecting beamhaptic output component in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is cross-sectional side view of an illustrative haptic outputcomponent based on a stack of haptic output structures in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a side view of an illustrative voice coil haptic outputcomponent in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative linearresonance actuator haptic output component in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 8 is a side view of an illustrative haptic output component with aportion that extends when actuated in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronicdevice mounted on a finger in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative wristwatchdevice in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a side view of an illustrative head-mounted device inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative haptic outputdevice that may apply shear force to a user's finger or other externalobject in accordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 are graphs of illustrative haptic outputdrive signals in accordance with embodiments.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing how an electronic device may be used tocontrol the position of an object on a display while providing hapticfeedback to a user of the device in accordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A system may include one or more electronic devices. The electronicdevices may be used to gather input from a user. In some configurations,a first electronic device may be used to control a second electronicdevice. For example, a first electronic device may serve as aninput-output device for a second electronic device. Haptic outputcomponents may be included in the electronic devices to provide a userwith haptic output.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device.Electronic device 10 may be a computing device such as a laptopcomputer, a computer monitor containing an embedded computer, a tabletcomputer, a cellular telephone, a media player, or other handheld orportable electronic device, a smaller device such as a wrist-watchdevice, a pendant device, a headphone or earpiece device, a deviceembedded in eyeglasses or other head-mounted device worn on a user'shead, a finger-mounted device, a glove, or other wearable or miniaturedevice, a television, a computer display that does not contain anembedded computer, a gaming device, a navigation device, an embeddedsystem such as a system in which electronic equipment with a display ismounted in a kiosk or automobile, an accessory such as a remote control,ear buds, or a case (cover) for a device, equipment that implements thefunctionality of two or more of these devices, or other electronicequipment. In the illustrative configuration of FIG. 1, device 10 is aportable device such as a cellular telephone, media player, tabletcomputer, or other portable computing device. Other configurations maybe used for device 10 if desired. The example of FIG. 1 is merelyillustrative.

In the example of FIG. 1, device 10 includes display 14. Display 14 hasbeen mounted in housing 12. Housing 12, which may sometimes be referredto as an enclosure or case, may be formed of plastic, glass, ceramics,fiber composites, metal (e.g., stainless steel, aluminum, etc.), othersuitable materials, or a combination of any two or more of thesematerials. Housing 12 may be formed using a unibody configuration inwhich some or all of housing 12 is machined or molded as a singlestructure or may be formed using multiple structures (e.g., an internalframe structure, one or more structures that form exterior housingsurfaces, etc.).

Display 14 may be a touch screen display that incorporates a layer ofconductive capacitive touch sensor electrodes or other touch sensorcomponents (e.g., resistive touch sensor components, acoustic touchsensor components, force-based touch sensor components, light-basedtouch sensor components, etc.) or may be a display that is nottouch-sensitive. Capacitive touch screen electrodes may be formed froman array of indium tin oxide pads or other transparent conductivestructures.

Display 14 may include an array of pixels formed from liquid crystaldisplay (LCD) components, an array of electrophoretic pixels, an arrayof plasma display pixels, an array of organic light-emitting diodepixels, an array of electrowetting pixels, or pixels based on otherdisplay technologies.

Display 14 may be protected using a display cover layer such as a layerof transparent glass or clear plastic. Openings may be formed in thedisplay cover layer. For example, an opening may be formed in thedisplay cover layer to accommodate a speaker port such as speaker port18. Button openings may also be formed in the display cover layer. Ifdesired, openings may be formed in housing 12 to form communicationsports, holes for buttons, and other structures.

Device 10 may have opposing front and rear faces. Display 14 may beformed on the front face. A rear wall of housing 12 may be formed on theopposing rear face. Sidewalls 18 may extend between peripheral portionsof display 14 on the front face and peripheral portions of the rear wallof housing 12 on the rear face. Sidewalls 18 may be formed from one ormore structures that are separated from the rear wall structures ofhousing 12 and/or may have portions that are formed integrally with therear wall of housing 12. Sidewalls 18 may extend vertically and may formplanar sidewall surfaces and/or sidewalls 18 may have portions withcurve cross-sectional shapes (e.g., so that the outer surfaces ofsidewalls 18 are curved). Display 14 may have any suitable footprint(outline when viewed from above) such as rectangular footprint, an ovalor circular shape, etc. In the example of FIG. 1, display 14 and device10 have a rectangular outline and housing sidewalls 18 run along each ofthe four edges of display 14 and device 10. Other arrangements may beused for device 10, if desired.

Input-output components may be formed on sidewalls 18 (e.g., in theportion of housing 12 in regions 20 of sidewalls 18 and/or otherportions of housing 12). When a user grips device 10, the user's fingersor other portions of a user's body may overlap regions 20 of sidewalls18 and/or other portions of sidewalls 18 that have been provided withinput-output components. The input-output components may include touchsensors, force sensors, and/or other input sensors for determining wherea user has touched device 10. The input-output components may alsoinclude haptic output devices. For example, device 10 may include astrips of capacitive touch sensor electrodes in regions 20 that areoverlapped by haptic output components in regions 20. Using thisarrangement, user input can be sensed using a touch sensor formed fromthe touch sensor electrodes while haptic output may be supplied to theuser by the associated haptic output components.

Haptic output devices in regions 20 (e.g., regions 20 on the left andright edges of device 10 in the example of FIG. 1 and/or other sidewallregions) and haptic output devices on other surface of device 10 (e.g.,rear wall surfaces, portions of display 14, etc.) may be used to applyforces perpendicular to the surface(s) being contacted by a user'sfinger(s) and/or may be used to apply forces tangential to thesurface(s) being contacted by the user's finger(s). Perpendicular forces(sometimes referred to as normal forces) may displace the user's fingerinwardly or outwardly. Tangential forces (sometimes referred to as shearforces) push and/or pull the user's finger parallel to the surfaces ofdevice 10.

A cross-sectional side view of electronic device 10 of FIG. 1 takenalong line 22 and viewed in direction 24 is shown in FIG. 2. As shown inFIG. 2, display 14 of device 10 may be formed from a display module suchas display module 72 mounted under a cover layer such as display coverlayer 70 (as an example). Display 14 (display module 72) may be a liquidcrystal display, an organic light-emitting diode display, a displayformed from a pixel array having an array of light-emitting diodesformed from respective crystalline semiconductor dies, anelectrophoretic display, a display that is insensitive to touch, a touchsensitive display that incorporates and array of capacitive touch sensorelectrodes or other touch sensor structures, or may be any other type ofsuitable display. Display cover layer 70 may be layer of clear glass, atransparent plastic member, a transparent crystalline member such as asapphire layer, or other clear structure. Display layers such as thelayers of display layers (module) 72 may be rigid and/or may be flexible(e.g., display 14 may be flexible).

Display 14 may be mounted to housing 12. Device 10 may have innerhousing structures that provide additional structural support to device10 and/or that serve as mounting platforms for printed circuits andother structures. Structural internal housing members may sometimes bereferred to as housing structures and may be considered to form part ofhousing 12.

Electrical components 76 may be mounted within the interior of housing12. Components 76 may be mounted to printed circuits such as printedcircuit 74. Printed circuit 74 may be a rigid printed circuit board(e.g., a printed circuit board formed from fiberglass-filled epoxy orother rigid printed circuit board material) or may be a flexible printedcircuit (e.g., printed circuit formed from a sheet of polyimide or otherflexible polymer layer). Patterned conductive traces within printedcircuit board 74 may be used to form signal paths between components 76.

Haptic output components 80 may be mounted in regions 20 and/or othersuitable areas of device 10 and housing 12. Sensors 94 (e.g., acapacitive touch sensor, a force sensor, etc.) may, if desired, bemounted so as to overlap haptic output components 80. Haptic outputcomponents 80 and/or sensors 94 may be mounted on exterior surfaces ofhousing 12, in the interior of housing 12 adjacent to the walls ofhousing 12 (e.g., so that haptic output devices 80 may provide hapticoutput through the walls of housing 12), and/or may be embedded withinhousing walls of housing 12. Configurations in which haptic outputcomponents 80 and sensors such as touch and force sensors are mounted onexterior surfaces of housing 12 may sometimes be described herein as anexample. This is merely illustrative. Haptic output devices such ascomponents 80 of FIG. 2 may be mounted on any suitable portions ofhousing 12 that allow haptic output to be provided to a user of device10 and touch and force sensors may be mounted on any suitable portionsof housing 12 that allow these sensors to gather user touch and forceinput.

If desired, haptic output components may be mounted on portions of adevice case The case may be, for example, a battery case such asillustrative device 10′ of FIG. 2 that includes a supplemental battery(battery 82) for supplying power to device 10 when device 10 is mountedin device 10′. Housing 12′ of device (battery case) 10′ may havesidewalls such as sidewalls 18′ and/or other housing walls. Input-outputcomponents (e.g., touch sensors, haptic output components 80, etc.) maybe mounted on the interior and/or exterior of walls 18′, may be embeddedpartially or fully within walls 18′, and/or may be supported by otherportions of housing 12′ of case 10′ and may overlap haptic outputcomponents 80, as illustrated by optional sensors 94.

FIGS. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are diagrams of illustrative haptic outputcomponents 80.

Illustrative haptic output component 80 of FIG. 3 has a piezoelectricmember such as member 28. A biasing structure such as spring 26 isinterposed between support structure 30 and the lower surface of member28 and configured to push upwards on member 28. During operation,control signals (e.g., control voltages) may be applied to member 28using electrodes on the upper and lower surfaces of member 28. Thecontrol signals may be adjusted to adjust the tension of member 28. Whenmember 28 is adjusted to exhibit a high tension, member 28 will compressspring 26 and will have a planar shape. When member 28 is adjusted toexhibit low tension, member 28 will relax and will be moved upwards toposition 28′ by spring 26.

Illustrative haptic output component 80 may have a deflectable beam suchas beam 34 of FIG. 4 that is attached to support structure 32.Piezoelectric members 28A and 28B may be coupled to the upper and lowersurfaces of beam 34. Control signals may be supplied to electrodes inmembers 28A and 28B to cause these members to contract or expand. Asshown in FIG. 4, for example, signals may be supplied to members 28A and28B to cause member 28A to contract inwardly in directions 38 whilecausing member 28B to expand outwardly in directions 40. This causesbeam 34 to deflect in direction 36.

Illustrative haptic output component 80 of FIG. 5 is formed fromelectrode layers 42 and adjustable material layers 44. During operation,control circuitry in device 10 may supply signals to electrode layers 42that cause layers 44 to expand and contract. Multiple stacks of layers42 and 44 may be included in component 80 to enhance the amount ofdisplacement that is produced for a given applied signal. With oneillustrative configuration, haptic output component 80 may be anelectroactive polymer device (e.g., layers 44 may be formed fromelectroactive polymer). Arrangements of the type shown in FIG. 5 mayalso be used with piezoelectric ceramic layers, etc.

If desired, haptic output component 80 may be formed usingelectromagnetic structures. With one illustrative arrangement, which isshown in FIG. 6, haptic output component 80 is a voice coil actuatorformed from a coil such as coil 52 and a corresponding magnet such asmagnet 50. When current is supplied to terminals 54 of coil 52, amagnetic field is generated by coil 52. This magnetic field produces aforce between magnet 50 and coil 52 and thereby causes magnet 50 andcoil 52 to move relative to each other (e.g., vertically in theorientation of FIG. 6). Component 80 may use a moving coil design inwhich coil 52 is moved when current is applied to terminals 54 or amoving magnetic design in which magnet 50 is moved when current isapplied to terminals 54. Haptic output components such as component 80of FIG. 6 may sometimes be referred to as electromagnetic actuators. Anysuitable geometry may be used for an electromagnetic actuator (rotary,linear, etc.). The configuration of FIG. 6 is merely illustrative.

As shown in FIG. 7, haptic output component 80 may be a linear resonantactuator. Component 80 of FIG. 7 has a support structure such as supportstructure 56. Moving mass 60 is coupled to support structure 56 byspring 58. Coil 64 may receive a drive current and may interactelectromagnetically with magnet 62. Coil 64 may be coupled to movingmass 60 and magnet 62 may be coupled to support structure 56 or viceversa, so that application of drive signals to coil 64 will cause movingmagnet 60 to oscillate along axis LA.

As shown in FIG. 8, haptic output component 80 may have portion such asportion 68 that can be displaced (e.g., to a position such as displacedposition 68′ in the FIG. 8 example). Fluid such as pressurized air,rheological fluid that changes in viscosity under applied magneticfields from an electromagnet in component 80, pressurized water, and/orother fluid may be introduced into a chamber in support structure 66with controllable properties (pressure, viscosity, etc.), therebyadjusting the displacement of portion 68. Portion 68 may be anexpandable diaphragm, may be a movable pin, or may be other suitablemovable structure. If desired, an electromagnetic actuator (e.g., aservomotor or other motor, solenoid, etc.) can be used to adjust thedisplacement of portion 68.

The configurations for haptic output component 80 that are shown inFIGS. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are merely illustrative. In general, anysuitable haptic output devices may be used in providing a user of anelectronic device with haptic output.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of a system containing electronic devices of thetype that may use haptic output components 80 to provide a user withhaptic output. Electronic systems such as illustrative system 8 of FIG.9 may include electronic devices such as electronic device 10 andelectronic device 100. Device 10 may be used in supplying a user withhaptic output. In some configurations, electronic device 100 can beomitted and device 10 can be used to provide visual and/or audio outputto a user of device 10 in conjunction with the haptic output. The hapticoutput may, as an example, be provided as feedback while a user issupplying touch input, force input, motion input, or other input todevice 10.

In other configurations, one or more supplemental devices in system 8such as device 100 (and, if desired, an additional electronic devicecoupled to device 100) may be used in providing visual and/or audiooutput to a user while device 10 serves as a control device for device100 (and any additional device coupled to device 100). Device 10 may, asan example, have touch sensors, motion sensors, and/or other sensorsthat gather user input. This user input may be used in manipulatingvisual objects displayed by a display in device 100 (as an example).Haptic output components 80 may be included in device 10 and may be usedto provide a user with haptic output associated with the visual objectson device 100 that are being manipulated by the user. In this type ofarrangement, device 100 (e.g., a laptop computer, a tablet computer, atelevision, a head-mounted with a display and speakers, a head-mounteddisplay with a display and speakers that is coupled to a computer, aset-top box, or other host, etc.) may display computer-generated visualobjects (e.g., a computer game, virtual reality environment, etc.) andassociated audio while the user interacts with this content using device10. If desired, haptic output components 80 may be included in device100, so that haptic output may be provided both by device 10 and bydevice 100.

As illustrated by communications link 98, device 10 may communicate withone or more additional electronic devices such as electronic device 100.Links such as link 98 in system 8 may be wired or wireless communicationlinks. Each device in system 8 such as device 10 may includecommunications circuitry such as communications circuitry 96 of device10 for supporting communications over links such as link 98.

Communications circuitry 96 may include wired and wirelesscommunications circuitry. Communications circuitry 96 in one device maybe used to support communications over one or more wired or wirelesscommunications links (e.g., link 98) with one or more additional devices(e.g., a peer device, a host, an accessory, etc.). Wireless circuitry incommunications circuitry 96 may include one or more antennas and one ormore radio-frequency transceiver circuits. Wireless communicationscircuitry may be used to support wireless communications over cellulartelephone bands, wireless local area network bands, near fieldcommunications bands, etc.

As shown in FIG. 9, electronic device 10 may have control circuitry 90.Control circuitry 90 may include storage and processing circuitry forsupporting the operation of device 10. The storage and processingcircuitry may include storage such as nonvolatile memory (e.g., flashmemory or other electrically-programmable-read-only memory configured toform a solid state drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamicrandom-access-memory), etc. Processing circuitry in control circuitry 90may be used to control the operation of device 10. The processingcircuitry may be based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers,digital signal processors, baseband processors, power management units,audio chips, application specific integrated circuits, etc.

Input-output circuitry in device 10 such as input-output devices 92 maybe used to allow data to be supplied to device 10 and to allow data tobe provided from device 10 to external devices. Input-output devices 92may include buttons, joysticks, scrolling wheels, touch pads, key pads,keyboards, microphones, speakers, tone generators, cameras (e.g.,cameras configured to visually monitor foot movements, etc.), displaysand/or other light-emitting components, light-emitting diodes and otherstatus indicators, data ports, etc. Input-output devices 92 may includesensors such as sensors 94. Sensors 94 may include force sensors, touchsensors, temperature sensors, air pressure sensors, moisture sensors,ambient light sensors and other light-based sensors, magnetic sensors,and/or other sensors. If desired, sensors 94 may include position andmotion sensors such as inertial measurement units that includeaccelerometers, compasses, and/or gyroscopes. Control circuitry 90 mayuse sensors 94 to gather information such as information on movement ofdevice 10. Haptic output components 80 in input-output devices 92 may beused to provide haptic output to a user (e.g., based on sensed movement,wirelessly received information, etc.). In some configurations (e.g.,when a haptic output component 80 has a piezoelectric material),components can serve both as haptic output components 80 and as sensors94. For example, a piezoelectric material may be driven with a signal tosupply haptic output and, when not driven, may produce an output signalindicative of applied force. Using appropriate drive signals fromcontrol circuitry 90, haptic output components 80 may be used to supplya user's finger or other body part with a sensation of applied force ina given direction relative to the surface of sidewalls 80 or otherhousing surface of device 10. This type of haptic output, which maysometimes be referred to as directional haptic output, may be used toprovide a user with sensations of increased or decreased weight, appliedlateral force (e.g., force to the left or right in a horizontal plane),a sensation of device 10 slipping out of a user's grasp, a sensations offriction as a finger or other body part slides across a housing surface,etc.

Device 10 may serve as a stand-alone device. A stand-alone haptic outputdevice may be used independently and need not be used with externalequipment. Battery power and/or power received wireles sly, via wiredconnection, or via an energy harvesting device in device 10 may be usedin powering device 10. In some stand-alone arrangements, stand-alonedevices may occasionally gather information from external equipment(e.g., settings, etc.) and/or may supply output to external equipment(e.g., usage history information, etc.). In other stand-alonearrangements, stand-alone devices are never coupled to externalequipment.

In other configurations, device 10 can serve as a controller foradditional equipment. Device 10 may, for example, be an accessory or astand-alone device that can operate as a remote control or otherinput-output device for another electronic device such as device 100. Inthis type of operating environment, device 100 may, as an example, be acomputer, television, head-mounted display (stand-alone or tethered orotherwise coupled to an external electronic device such as device 10and/or additional electronic equipment such as a computer, set-top box,television, etc.), and/or other electronic equipment (e.g., one or moredevices such as device 10). Device 100 (or associated equipment) may beused to run a computer game or other software for a user while providinga user with visual and audio output (e.g., computer-generated images orother visual content and associated audio content). A user may interactwith the game or other software by providing input to device 100 usingdevice 10. As an example, a user may use device 10 as a game controller(e.g., a sword, joystick, magic wand, pointer, etc.). While manipulatingvisual objects and otherwise interacting with the software, hapticoutput such as in-game force feedback may be provided to the user byhaptic output components 80 in device 10. The haptic output may includedirectional haptic output associated with the user's interactions withvisual objects being displayed.

In the example of FIG. 10, device 10 has a finger-mounted housing suchas housing 12. Housing 12 has a ring shape or a U-shape (e.g., with anexposed finger pad region) that mounts on a user's finger (finger 102).Haptic output components 80 may be formed on housing 12 to provide theuser with haptic output such as directional haptic output (e.g., anapparent applied force in a given direction relative to a surface ofhousing 12).

In the example of FIG. 11, device 10 is a wristwatch device having astrap that holds housing 12 against a user's wrist (wrist 104). Hapticoutput components 80 may be supported against wrist 104 by wristwatchhousing 12 to provide a user with haptic output. The wristwatch hapticoutput may include directional haptic output (e.g., an apparent appliedforce in a given direction relative to a surface of housing 12).

As shown in FIG. 12, device 100 may be a head-mounted device such as apair of virtual reality or mixed reality glasses. Device 100 of FIG. 12has a head-mounted housing structure such as support structure 112 thatallows device 100 and display 106 to be mounted on a user's head. Inthis position, a user (e.g., user eyes 108) may view display 106 indirection 110 while a speaker in housing 112 is used to play audio forthe user. Haptic output components 80 may be supported by housing 12 toprovide a user's head with haptic output (e.g., directional hapticoutput). Haptic output such as directional haptic output may also beprovided using haptic output components 80 in device 10 (e.g., while theuser is using device 10 to provide motion input, touch input, forceinput, and/or other user input to device 100 or computer equipmentcommunicating with device 10).

As shown in the cross-sectional side view of FIG. 13, haptic outputcomponents 80 (e.g., components formed from stacked output components 80such as stack-shaped haptic output component 80 of FIG. 5 and/or otherstacked output components) may be configured to exhibit shearing forceacross most or all of the surface of a user's skin (e.g., the skin offinger 102 or other user body part). Shear force output is tangential tothe surface of components 80 and the user's skin (e.g., shear forces maybe applied along the Y dimension in the example of FIG. 13, when theexposed surface of components 80 and the outer surface of device 10adjacent to user finger 102 lie in the X-Y plane). Normal forces (e.g.,in the Z dimension in the illustrative configuration of FIG. 13) mayalso be applied by haptic output components, if desired. Shear outputmay be used to create sensations of movement along the surface of theuser's skin. For example, shear output may create a sensation of appliedforce in a leftwards tangential direction relative to the surface ofhousing 12.

As shown in FIG. 14, asymmetric drive signals may be applied to hapticoutput components 80. For example, signal I may have steeper portionssuch as portions 114 and less steep portions such as portion 116. Inconfigurations in which portions 116 change slowly enough, the changesin displacement that are associated with portions 116 will not be sensedby a user. Because portions 116 are sufficiently slow in this type ofconfiguration, the user's sense of touch will be insensitive to changesin haptic output device displacement that are associated with portions116. Portions 114, however, change magnitude more abruptly than portions114. As a result, the user's sense of touch will be sensitive to thechanges in haptic output device displacement that are associated withportions 114. The overall result of using an asymmetric drive signalsuch as the illustrative asymmetrical sawtooth drive signal of FIG. 14is that a user may sense an applied force (net normal force and/or netshearing force) in a given direction relative to the surface of housing12 and components 80. This applied force is associated with portions 114and will not sense restoring displacements associated with portions 116.A user may therefore be provided with the illusion of overall appliedforce in a single given direction even though the user's finger or otherbody part in contact with one or more haptic output components remainsat a fixed location and the haptic output component moves back and forthby equal amounts parallel to the given direction.

Directional haptic output effects such as these may be used to provide auser who is holding device 10 or otherwise receiving haptic output fromcomponents 80 with a sensation of enhanced weight or decreased weight(apparent applied force in a given vertical direction—up or down), witha sensation of lateral applied force (apparent applied force in a givenhorizontal direction), with a sensation of resistance or attraction(e.g., apparent applied force in a given direction relative to a virtualobject or other reference point), with a sensation of enhanced ordecreased friction (e.g., by adjusting shear force to resist or assistlateral movement of a finger across a surface using a finger-mounteddevice, handheld device, etc.), with a sensation of compliance (e.g.,the sensation of gripping a real-world object as the user is interactingwith a virtual reality environment), with a sensation of striking aboundary (e.g., boundary rendering associated with moving a virtualobject in a virtual reality world through a virtual boundary using userinput from device 10), with feedback associated with navigation tasks orother software functions (e.g., apparent applied force in a directionassociated with driving directions or other navigation system outputsuch as apparent applied force directed to the right for right turns andto the left for left turns), with a sensation that device 10 is slippingout of the user's grasp (e.g., by applying shear forces to the user'sfingers), and/or other haptic output effects.

Normal-force or shear-force haptic output components can be applied tosidewalls and other walls of housing 12 in configurations in whichdevice 10 is a computer mouse, track pad, or other pointing device, in aconfiguration in which device 10 is a remote control (e.g., for atelevision or set-top box), when device 10 is an accessory such as asupplemental battery case (see, e.g., illustrative device 10′ of FIG.2), when device 10 is a wristwatch device, finger mounted device,head-mounted device, and/or other wearable device, or in otherconfigurations.

As shown in the example of FIG. 14, asymmetric drive signals may changeorientation. For example, signals 118 may be used to create a sensationof applied force in a first direction whereas signals 120 (in which thepositions of the steep and less steep portions of the waveform have beenreversed) may create a sensation of applied force in an opposing seconddirection. As indicated by dashed lines 122, the peaks of sawtooth drivesignals may, if desired, be truncated. FIG. 15 shows how drive signal Imay have a sawtooth shape embedded in sawtooth envelope 122. FIG. 16shows how Gaussian drive signal pulses may be embedded within sawtoothenvelope 122. In the FIG. 17 arrangement, drive signal I has an overallsawtooth shape upon which smaller increasing sawtooth features have beenimpressed. Sawtooth pulses 124 of drive signal I of FIG. 18 have steeprising edges, which is in opposition to the overall slowly rising andrapidly falling sawtooth envelope 122 of signal I. Other drive signalsmay be used in controlling haptic output components 80 if desired. Thearrangements of FIGS. 14, 15, 16 17, and 18 are merely illustrative.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing how a user may use device 10 to supply asystem with user input to manipulate a displayed object such as object154. A user may grip device 10 so that the user's fingers receive hapticoutput from output components 80 (and, if desired, provide input tooverlapping sensors 94). A motion sensor in device 10 may gather motioninput as a user moves device 10.

During operation of the system, object 154 may be presented to a uservisually (e.g., using a display in a head-mounted device such as device100 of FIG. 1 or other display and other optional electronic equipmentsuch as an associated set-up box, computer, etc.). The user may useforce input, touch input, motion input, voice input, and/or other userinput gathered with device 10 to control the system. For example, a usermay point device 10 in direction 150 at object 154 and may press on abutton, touch sensor, force sensor, or other component or may otherwiseindicate to device 10 that the user has selected object 154 to enableuser manipulation of the position of object 154. Once object 154 hasbeen selected, the use may move device 10 in direction 152 so that amotion sensor in device 10 can sense a desired movement of object 154 indirection 156. Motion input from device 10 can then be used by thesystem to move the displayed object. If desired, user input for movingobject 154 may also be provided using touch input, force input, and/orother input.

When the user moves object 154 in direction 156, object 154 may comeinto contact (visually) with another object being displayed for the usersuch as object 158. As the leading surface 160 of object 154 comes intovisual alignment with surface 160 of object 158, control circuitry inthe system may direct haptic output components 80 to provide directionaloutput that gives rise to a sensation of resistance to further movementof device 10. In this way, virtual boundaries may be rendered and othersensations of force can be created in association with the visualcontent being presented to the user (e.g., when a virtual objectinteracts with other virtual items). The directional haptic feedbackbeing provided to a user in the example of FIG. 19 may be oriented indirection 164 and may be applied when surface 162 meets surface 160 tomake it appear to the user as if object 154 has struck object 158 in thereal world. This type of force feedback may be provided to the user inany suitable operating environment (e.g., when viewing virtual realitycontent and/or mixed reality content using head-mounted device, whenworking in a content creation or productivity application on a desktopcomputer, when playing a game on a television using a set-top box, whendragging displayed objects across a cellular telephone display, etc.).The use of haptic output components 80 in device 10 to render resistanceto virtual object movement in a virtual reality world being presented toa user with a head-mounted display or other device 100 that communicateswith device 10 is merely illustrative.

The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can bemade to the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may beimplemented individually or in any combination.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device configured to provide hapticfeedback to a user's body part, comprising: a housing having a sidewallwith a sidewall surface; a display in the housing, the display having aperiphery, wherein the sidewall surface has a length running along theperiphery; a haptic output component in the housing, wherein the hapticoutput component includes actuators extending along the length of thesidewall surface and configured to move back and forth in a givendirection parallel to the length; a sensor in the housing; and controlcircuitry in the housing, wherein the control circuitry is configured togather user input with the sensor and configured to drive the hapticoutput component with an asymmetric signal to produce an apparentapplied force to the user's body part in response to the user inputwhile the body part remains in a fixed location relative to the hapticoutput component, and wherein the apparent applied force is in the givendirection.
 2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein thesensor comprises a touch sensor and wherein the user input comprisesuser touch input from the touch sensor, wherein the haptic outputcomponent is configured to generate the apparent applied force inresponse to the user touch input.
 3. The electronic device defined inclaim 2 wherein the sensor and the haptic output component overlap. 4.The electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the user input isassociated with user finger movement along the sidewall in a directionopposite to the given direction and wherein the haptic output componentcomprises a component selected from the group consisting of: apiezoelectric haptic output component and electroactive polymer hapticoutput component.
 5. The electronic device defined in claim 1 furthercomprising wireless communications circuitry configured to transmit theuser input to an external electrical device.
 6. The electronic devicedefined in claim 5 wherein the external electrical device has a displayconfigured to display visual information based on the user input,wherein the sensor comprises a motion sensor, wherein the user inputcomprises user motion sensor input, and wherein the wirelesscommunications circuitry is configured to transmit the user motionsensor input to the external electrical device to adjust the visualinformation.
 7. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein theapparent applied force in the given direction relative to the surface ofthe sidewall is parallel to the surface.
 8. The electronic devicedefined in claim 1 wherein the apparent applied force in the givendirection relative to the surface of the sidewall is perpendicular tothe surface.
 9. An electronic device configured to operate with externalelectrical equipment to apply haptic feedback to a body part of a user,the electronic device comprising: a housing having a surface; a displayin the housing, wherein the housing has four peripheral edges runningalong four respective edges of the display and wherein the surface runsalong a given one of the four peripheral edges of the housing; a sensorin the housing that is configured to gather user input; a haptic outputcomponent comprising a stack of electrodes and interposed layers ofadjustable material that expand and contract along a direction parallelto the given one of the four peripheral edges of the housing in responseto signals applied to the layers with the electrodes, wherein the stackof electrodes and interposed layers of adjustable material extendscontinuously along the surface of the housing; and control circuitryconfigured to wirelessly control the external equipment based on theuser input and configured to direct the haptic output component toproduce an apparent applied force to the body part in a directionrelative to the surface as the body part remains in a fixed locationrelative to the haptic output component.
 10. The electronic devicedefined in claim 9 wherein the user input is used to adjust visualcontent on the external electrical equipment, the electronic devicefurther comprising: a sidewall in the housing, wherein the surface isformed along the sidewall.
 11. The electronic device defined in claim 10further comprising a display in the housing, wherein the housing hasfour peripheral edges running along four respective edges of thedisplay, and wherein the sidewall runs along one of the four peripheraledges of the housing.
 12. The electronic device defined in claim 9wherein the external electrical equipment is a head-mounted displaydevice configured to display the visual content.
 13. The electronicdevice defined in claim 12 wherein the sensor comprises a motion sensor.14. The electronic device defined in claim 12 wherein the sensor and thehaptic output component overlap and wherein the sensor comprises asensor selected from the group consisting of: a touch sensor and a forcesensor. output component with an asymmetric signal to produce theapparent applied force.
 15. The electronic device defined in claim 9wherein the control circuitry is configured to drive the haptic outputcomponent with an asymmetric signal to produce the apparent appliedforce.
 16. A method of operating a system having a head-mounted deviceand having a cellular telephone with a motion sensor, sidewalls, andhaptic output components configured to produce an apparent applied forcein a direction relative to a housing surface on the sidewalls, themethod comprising: with the motion sensor, gathering user input to movea virtual object relative to other virtual items; with the head-mounteddevice, moving the virtual object relative to the other virtual items ona display based on the user input, wherein moving the virtual objectcomprises moving the virtual object on the display based on the userinput; and as the virtual object interacts with the other virtual itemson the display, producing the apparent applied force in the directionrelative to the housing surface with the haptic output components basedon the interactions between the virtual object and the other virtualitems, wherein the apparent applied force provides a sensation ofresistance to further movement of the portable electronic device. 17.The method defined in claim 16 wherein producing the apparent appliedforce comprises moving the haptic output components into and out of aplane defined by one of the sidewalls to apply the apparent appliedforce to the user's finger in a direction perpendicular relative to thehousing surface on the sidewalls as the user's finger remains at a fixedlocation relative to the haptic output components.